This invention relates to an apparatus for forming a column of articles, particularly chocolate bars. The apparatus includes an endless supply belt on which the individual, serially arranged articles are advanced and an endless removal belt which is arranged immediately at the downstream (discharge) end of the supply belt for taking over the articles from the supply conveyor belt and advancing them to a further processing station (such as a packing machine). The supply belt and the removal belt are both variable in their effective conveying lengths and, at the beginning and the end of the entire article-advancing track they are supported by stationarily arranged end rollers. There are provided belt deflecting elements which form the article transfer arrangement between the supply belt and the removal belt. The belt deflecting elements are mounted on a carriage which is displaceable back and forth parallel to the conveying direction and further, the supply belt and the removal belt are each guided by a respective deflecting roller movable back and forth parallel to the conveying direction.
A known apparatus of the above-outlined type is disclosed, for example, in German Offenlegungsschrift (application published without examination) 27 11 039. This publication shows a circulating, endless supply belt and a circulating, endless removal belt which, at the opposite ends of the conveyor path, are supported and guided by stationary end rollers. At the transfer location between the two belts the latter are guided on first deflecting rollers which are mounted on a carriage that is movable back and forth parallel to the article conveying direction. Further, on the carriage there are mounted second deflecting rollers at a distance from the first deflecting rollers. The carriage is reciprocated by a continuously rotating cam disc. In this manner, from the uniformly spaced articles positioned on the supply belt there are formed, on the removal belt, article groups which are advanced to a packing machine. Due to the fact that the second deflecting rollers must have a relatively large distance from one another which has an order of magnitude that is approximately one-half of the entire conveying track, the maximum carriage stroke is necessarily relatively small.
German Patent No. 3,630,791 discloses an apparatus which can form a uniform row of articles from articles arranged at random distances. This apparatus requires at least three conveyor belts which have at least two transitional portions movable back and forth parallel to the conveying direction as well as an arrangement which cyclically turns on and off the three belts. A control of such an apparatus is complicated and expensive and the conveyor output is limited because of the cyclical off-periods.